INVESTMENT

Alison Fournier, a New York investment banker, is planning to sue Starwood Hotels chain over a sex assault involving drunken man that entered her hotel room in Finland last year.

Regarding its banking system, the United States has now experienced its third generation of "heads the banks win, tails the taxpayer and the public loses.” Is there a better way? Is it possible to create a bank that serves the people of the United States?

Chinese machinery maker Shandong Heavy Industry Group on Tuesday sealed a deal to take a 75 percent stake in debt-laden Italian yachtmaker Ferretti Group, the latest in a series of Chinese acquisitions of European brands.

After months of campaigning and enough debates to enervate even the most fanatic political junkies, the New Hampshire primaries are upon us. Here are the essential questions facing the horses remaining in this race, from how big Mitt Romney will win to whether Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman can build some momentum.

The Nikkei share average edged up on Tuesday after revenue at U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa beat expectations, while Olympus jumped 20 percent on reports it would remain listed, but the benchmark remained stuck below key resistance ahead of events in Europe.

A hedge fund set up by former Goldman Sachs trader Morgan Sze -- the biggest launched in Asia in 2011 -- lost 6.8 percent last year, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as it was rattled by a sharp drop in Chinese shares.

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader Morgan Sze's hedge fund Azentus Capital lost 6.79 percent in 2011, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's biggest technology firm by revenue and the world's No.2 handset maker, is confident of its handset shipments overtaking that of Nokia this year, its chief executive said on Monday.

Chinese exports and imports registered weaker growth in December than in November, signaling economic growth in the world's second largest economy is losing steam on account of sluggish demand and a thaw in the real estate market. Data

Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp is suing 19 current and former executives, including its current president, for up to almost $50 million in compensation, as it struggles to recover from one of the nation's worst accounting scandals.

Jan 9 - The Securities and Exchange Commission has urged banks to publish more details about their exposure to European sovereign debt, a factor in the recent bankruptcy of the futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd .

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch is cutting around a fifth of its managing directors across its Asia investment banking division, sources said Monday, in a bid to cut costs as the outlook sours in a once-booming region.

City records show that Donald Trump is set to manage a PGA-regulation golf course in the Bronx and will not need to pay any to money to the city for the first four years of operation. On the fifth year, Trump will have to pay a minimum of $300,000 or 7 percent of the course's gross and by year 16 he will have to pay only 10 percent or $420,000 to the city.

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants American banks to publish more details about their exposure to European sovereign debt, a factor in the recent bankruptcy of the futures brokerage MF Global Holdings.

French bank Societe Generale is forecasting a significant drop in 2012 investment-bank revenue compared with 2011, weighed by higher funding costs and efforts to slash its balance sheet, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Monday.

Silver for March delivery, the most actively traded contract on the Comex, was up 25 cents to $28.93 and spot silver was up 10 cents to $28.85.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday that his country will only pay ExxonMobil a fraction of the price ruled last week by international arbitrators, in compensation for having seized ExxonMobil's assets in the country.

China's growing demand for energy means oil should fundamentally have the most upside when compared to other publicly traded commodities, a Goldman Sachs analyst told a financial strategy conference in London Monday.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), the American pharmaceutical giant that is facing the near-term loss of patent protections on three of its four top sellers, is set to buy U.S. biotech company Inhibitex Inc. for $2.5 billion.

Freddie Mac, the large federally controlled mortgage guarantor, announced that it would allow unemployed borrowers to delay mortgage payments for up to 12 months under a new plan.

Oil, gold and base metals are Goldman Sachs' top commodity picks this year, with big upside risk in oil due to tight fundamentals and a potential Iranian conflict, the investment bank said on Monday.